Junior Gong getting ever better everyday

Bob Marley's last son Damion Marley whose stage name is Junior Gong gets even better every time  time I see him performing, thinking too that he could not get any better.

 I thought his performance  at jazz festival could not be improved on but at this year's Reggae Sumfest, he blew me away.

What is outstanding about that young man is the fact that he has not chosen to make his name trying to sound like his famous father, but has developed his own style and constantly hones his craft.

Unfortunately I could only attend the last night this year and I had heard that this pop singer Miguel has been taking the American music scene by storm, and had been excited to hear him at this years Sumfest, but lo and behold his act was the only one I fell asleep in. I hope his performance improved during my well needed sleep!

All other acts were great with Romain Virgo giving an "outstanding" sticker in my book and Junior Gong a "just superb" sticker.

Miss Kitty on the back stage was quite good too, as I had no idea she was such a comedienne. She held the crowd well and we did not even remember that we were waiting on band changes on the main stage between acts.

The most hilarious moment was when she invited members of the crowd to come om stage and recite the 23rd Psalm. I swear at least ten people went up and not one could recite it completely! I related the incident next day to a big church lady asking how come in this so -called christian county, no one who went up knew the psalm. Her reply was that true Christians don't go to worlian things like Sumfest! lol

It was a wonderful family weekend at Silver Sands too as my entire family, minus daughter Michele and her daughter Madlynn were there.

It was another great weekend and the last for a while with my grandson Shadrach who goes home to New York to prepare for his entry into university in Tampa next moth.

A Toothless Shark

We hear such chilling tales about sharks, that seeing a toothless one was quite a novelty.

 This I ran into on the way to Bob Marley beach for breakfast and a swim on Saturday, before riding on to Macca Beach in Yallahs, to watch the international surfing competition.

As we entered the unpaved road to the beach, we saw a man with a wheel barrow with a huge shark inside. As Omar was just ahead of me with his camera,
I exhorted him to take a picture, after all, how often does one get to see a shark close up and even look in his mouth to boot.

It was about 6 feet long with a super -flat, broad head and I actually felt sorry for the creature which was still breathing and the fisherman told me it was a harmless nurse shark.

When I asked him why he killed him then, he said he had gone into his fish net and eaten some if his catch.

He even opened the mouth of the creature which was still breathing, to prove his point.

I never knew I could feel sorry for a shark but I did , especially when he told me he was going to sell it to a guard company for them to feed their guard dogs.

Eighteen of us went on to Macca Beach after we ate and swam, then Johann rode over to Yallahs by himself.

As we reached our destination I saw a jelly man and thirstily, we all converged, buying out most of his stock. I did not have any, as Grace who had been driving around like a tourist with David., had just saved my life with a bottle of water.When we got to Macca Beach, I was ready to go home as the waves were not as fierce and large as the last time we were there, so I knew it would be a tame meet. Besides, on this occasion, there appeared to be more vendors than spectators.

So as the first vehicle was ready, guess who was a passenger?

It was a nice day though, good breakfast, my first shark up close, a nice swim and an invigorating ride.

PICTURES COMPLIMENTS OF OMAR DOWNIE.

https://youtu.be/O4H4Js9esxY

Kwame falls

Despite undoing my long standing domino record with partner Chris (the driver) and getting two separate sets of six love from Carolyn and her new partner another Chris,  (she fired Fatman!) that full days trek organised by Michael and Karen Chuck, was one of the best organised events I have ever  been on.

And no blame on their shoulders, the 43 seater bus that came for the Fun and Thrills crew, did not pull out until more than an hour later than scheduled, holding up the Stella Maris and photographic club posse which traveled on a 25 seater leaving from the Chuck's  home.

Once we were on our way, all went extremely well as we had a very competent driver who provided wonderful music which he brought along on his thumb drive and the organisers even arranged a bathroom stop at the hotel in Robin's Bay.

When we were almost at our destination

our guides, a small boat with captain and crew were waiting. As we had a 1 3/4 hour hike through the bushes to the beach where we would be having lunch, arrangements had been made for the boat to transport the food  and heavy stuff and Betty would also travel by sea as she had two broken toes. Chris (driver) also went along in the boat to help with the cargo,.

We started the walk about a half mile beyond the point where we met the boat and the hike was along a nice, undulating, scenic path and  we were accompanied by three guides, one in front, one in the middle and one at the back.

By the time we got to the beach where we planned to have our meal, the boat was there and we learnt that while the trip had been bumpy but uneventful, when they docked and a large wave came ashore and turned over the boat, sending everything into the swirling waters.  Luckily the crew was able to retrieve almost everything and most importantly , all the food.

We soon arrived at a perfect spot with sufficient trees to give  us lots of shade to hang around under, for food and dominoes. The swimming there was not good however, so we headed towards Kwame Falls. 

The path there was also quite easy, passing  by a big morass (thank god no crocodiles are in the side of the island) and

crossing through the dry Kwame river bed at least three times. On the way I noticed a number of huge holes in the ground and on inquiring from the guide what was happening, he told me they were crab holes, boy would I ever love to see those crabs in a pot for those were the largest crab holes i have ever seen. 

Incidentally, we were told that Kwame was one of the maroon soldiers who fought with Tacky against the British and it is significant that the falls named after Kwame  are much smaller than  the one, also in St. Mary, named for Tacky.

 In fact, because it is a drought season, these falls were a mere trickle but below was a huge swimming area, very deep in most areas but the great thing is it had some very warm spots indicating that there were warm springs feeding into the area.

We spent an absolutely wonderful time there, frolicking in the waters before going back to the beach to find that the pre-cooked lunch made up of delicious curried goat, barbecue chicken. grilled sausage etc was  being served.

After eating, drinking and feeling very merry, we sat down to a game of dominoes but did not get very far before we were summoned to leave.

On the way back, I saw poor David j limping along for his shoes had given way but Orrel and his daughter's best friend walked slowly along with him. It must have been a tortuous journey back for him because the trail has an over abundance of rocks and pebbles but when  we got back, we saw all the people who had been rushing us, waiting, as the bus had gone to get the cargo from the boat.

 So we found some dominoes at a shop piazza and alas, that is where I earned myself two six loves.

As we got ready to leave, we heard there would be a delay as a man who had come with a the photographic club was having heart palpitations and as he had had by pass surgery, a bike had to be sent down the narrow trail  to being him in. Fortunately, he seemed to have made it ok as I heard nothing adverse.

I was also very impressed with the professionalism of the lead guide for when we reached the hotel where we had picked him up, he came over to our bus to thank us for using him and wished us a good day..... excellent training and what had grabbed me about them too was the fact that at lunch , I had to invite them to come over and get something to eat, as when I went to get my chair from the boat, they were sitting there patiently. It was only when I inquired  if they had eaten,  that I realised that they were not the regular type of  guide that we have had in the past, who would have dived for the food, with or without an invitation. Really professionally trained fellows.

I  unreservedly give the organizers of this hike,  10 out of 10.

WHITE RACISM WINS EVERYTIME

Some years ago, I was at Silver Sands in Trelawny, Jamaica , for the weekend and walked up to  Duncans, the nearby village, to get a newspaper. The road from Duncans to Silver Sands is long and winding and very lonely in the mornings.

As I started walking back to my cottage, I noticed a man walking  a little distance behind me. He soon started to call to me but I  ignored him, assuming he would stop off eventually at the football field approximately halfway down the hill, as I had seen a football match in progress when I was walking up.

Unfortunately he did not stop, but continued to trail and call out to me.

As the rest of the road was lonely, I looked out for the first place I could slip into and hide and eventually saw a small track around a slight corner and quickly sneaked into the bushes and picked up a large stone.  Would you believe he too entered the tiny track leading into the bushes! As he came around the bend I jumped out with my hand raised holding the stone ominously.

He nearly jumped out of his skin and stammered as he tried to answer the question I posed about him stalking me.Seeing how scared he looked,  I stepped aside and allowed him to pass, then returned to the road. I guess if  this was Florida and he had a gun and had shot me, he could have pleaded "self defense " and got away with murdering me! Thank God he had no gun and I live in Jamaica.

I reflected on this incident on hearing the results of the George Zimmerman trial, where this man got away with killing  a little boy much smaller than him, when the kid apparently  injured him slightly after confronting him for stalking him .

Yes sir, Racism is surely alive and well in Florida for Zimmerman is a white man and the kid he killed black and it is more often than not quite legitimate for white people to kill black people in the USA. No problem mon.

We can just imagine what would have happened had Zimmerman been black and Trevon Martin white.

Lets hope the federal government does not sit idly by and allow this blatant murder  and racism in the courts, to go unpunished